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Los Angeles home tour

A couple years ago, my friend Sari moved from New York to Los Angeles with her husband Eli, son Jude and daughter Teddy. When I went to visit last year, I was struck by how warm and inviting their home was. Since moving, Sari—who used to be an editor at Gourmet and Martha Stewart—has been helping people with interior design on the side, so I guess it was no surprise that I wanted to curl up and stay all day. Want to take a peek inside? Here goes... LIVING ROOM:

On a home with a personality: I respond to homes that have a sense of place—our apartment back in New York was a quintessential Upper West Side apartment: lots of wood paneling. The building was covered in ivy. It looked like something out of a Wes Andersen movie. Even the moldings had moldings. So a big part of why I fell in love with this home was that it felt very much of this place. It’s airy and bright, very Californian. In New York, I tended towards pieces that were more gentlemanly; there was a lot of herringbone and tweed happening! In California, I've been going for more wood and natural elements, rustic stuff with the occasional hippie-ish bent.

On the vintage card catalogue: I loved libraries as a kid and still deeply love everything about them. More than anything I wanted a vintage library card catalogue, and the fantastic Jenny Komenda found it for me on Craigslist. Jude also hides things in it. I’m constantly opening drawers and finding silverware and old necklaces. It’s my go-to place when anything is missing.

On her favorite spot: The happiest place for me is the grey couch because the light is really beautiful there throughout the whole day. That's where the kids and I read together, and there's pretty much nothing more delicious than curling up on a couch reading with your children. It’s also satisfying to see our vegetable garden growing outside.

On rules for the dog: Ike is a lost cause. We’ve gone through stretches of trying to keep him off the furniture, but he’s eleven, and what can we do at this point? Now he’s allowed everywhere. Given how notoriously pugs shed, it's proof we are really crazy about him.

On family-friendly spaces: Our living room is the only room that doesn’t have kids things in it, but children find a way to make things their own. Jude figured out how to dismantle the gray sofa and create a plank across our coffee table. Now he and Teddy play pirates all over the furniture. So this room looks adult, but no, no it’s not.

On the children’s portraits: My husband, Eli, gave me these for Mother’s Day. Brooklyn artist Carter Kustera will do portraits of anyone—even dogs. You give him a bunch of images and choose the taglines. Jude is very deep into superheroes right now, and Super Jude is a character that we tell him lots of stories about. So Jude's portrait says, "Jude is a superhero-in-training." For Teddy, we sing a song to her and one of the lines is, “We all love our little teddy bear,” so that's her tagline.

On decorating with a spouse: Eli is much more game to pull the trigger on things. If we love something, he’s like, let’s get it; but I can mull over something for a really long time. He jokes that if it weren't for him, our house wouldn’t have any furniture.

On having a bar cart: When we’re going to have cocktails, which we very often do, it’s in a very unofficial way: also known as scotch on the rocks.

On trusting yourself: When it came to decorating our home, it took me a long time to trust myself. A friend told me, “You know what you love, just start.” And she was right. Once you pick a piece of furniture, the other things fall into place. You know better than anyone what you love, how you live and how you use the space. I've been doing some home design work more recently, and it's something I try to help instill in others: When you’re buying things you love and pulling them together, the end result will always look like you. Your home becomes a lesson in trusting yourself.

On the bedside tables: The hand-painted dressers are custom from Nightwood in Brooklyn. They have a slight camping aesthetic without being corny.

On the Pendleton blanket: It’s not super soft, but I don’t mind. I went to sleep-away camp in Maine for nine summers and this feels exactly like the camping blankets we all used. I have very nostalgic affection for a slightly scratchy blanket.

On the monogrammed pillows: The blue pillows have my initial, Eli’s initial and our last initial. Anyone will do a monogram these days on anything!

On Sharon Montrose's animal prints: The other day, Jude was standing on his crates and pointing out the animals to Teddy! The porcupine is my favorite; there’s something about porcupines that just kill me.

On creating a child-friendly space: We store Jude's books at his level with the covers facing outward, so he can thumb through them. Before, when the spines faced out, it made it hard for him to find what he was looking for, so he’d pull all the books onto the floor. The bins are great because he can straighten up on his own. I’ve realized that the more things in children's rooms that they can access independently and be responsible for, the better off they are.

On leaving toys out: In his room, if he’s in the middle of working on something, I try to leave it be. What looks like a mess to me is actually in progress for him. A friend gave me a good tip: If your child is in the middle of working on something—a building, an art project—and you put it away and they have to take it out the next day, it ruins the momentum and the magic is lost. I see that. So his room is generally a disaster zone.

On creating a cozy haven: Teddy’s room is much more of a true nursery. We don’t actually play much in it; it’s really for nuzzling and reading and sleeping. One thing that’s remarkable to me about having a girl after a boy is that she gravitates toward dolls in a way that I was completely not expecting.

On the flamingo photograph: The flamingo was a gift from a friend. She points to it all the time and says “flamingo” in this garbled way. It was actually one of her first words.

On having a separate playroom: One of the luxuries of moving from New York to California was getting more space. I tend to be super tidy and organized; I sometimes joke that I have to resist my impulse to have a dustpan in one hand and a broom in another. Knowing that a lot of toys and artwork can be down here, including paints and Playdoh, and I can just relax about it is good for me and them. I want this to be a deeply happy place.

On favorite toy stores: The Land of Nod and Magic Cabin always have wonderful stuff. We get a lot on Amazon Prime (the free shipping is totally dangerous). At IKEA, too. Camden Rose makes gorgeous kids stuff, like mini kitchens, food products and wooden eggs. And I find it impossible to resist Jess Brown dolls. Each one is like a work of art.

On people figures: I recently discovered a couple in Brooklyn who makes wedding cake toppers and wooden peg dolls on etsy. They're the perfect size for little hands, so smooth and so satisfying to play with. And they’re funny—say, a Brooklyn hipster family where the dad’s wearing a button-down and the mom is wearing a flowy Isabel Marant type top. They don’t have set expressions, so the kids can pretend they’re doing anything.

This house is beautiful! I love that she makes the most of where she lives, and her home reflects her surroundings as much as herself. I wonder how I can incorporate that in the house I just bought in South Jersey...

I am also curious about what Lindsey's comment was, and on that front, what the role of your intern is, Joanna. I had a comment go missing one an old post (about the results of one of your recipes I tried) and wonder if it was a similar issue.

Hi Joanna,I LOVE this house and desperately want the swing. It says it's from Lawson Fenning but I don't see it on their site. Does Sari have any other information?p.s. Will she come up and help decorate our new house in Sonoma County??

This home is stunning and welcoming. However, I must admit, I am tired of every kid's room having those animal photos. They're super cute, don't get me wrong, but It feels almost as if they're required for any beautiful and fashionable family.

This home looks so incredibly inviting and serene, but also family friendly! I love it on first read and am going to go back to savor all the nooks and crannies and intimate details and choices. Really fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

Gorgeous house and great resources...I particularly love the art by Carson Kustera and the Robshaw rugs. This house looks personal and lived in. There's nothing worse than having a house that looks like someone else's vision. I only wish Sari lived in Northern California.

Beautiful and so creative! I love the chalkboard walls! That's so neat and a great way to encourage creativity, they'll never be bored with walls they're actually allowed to draw on! That is so incredible.

wow, thank you so much. these comments are incredibly kind. it's hard to think of a nicer way to end the day.

to try to answer your questions:

what's delicious: we bought the tee pee on sale at the mini social. i wanted something pretty basic—a plain canvas tee pee—and happened to get lucky. house inhabit on etsy makes a beautiful tee pee: http://www.etsy.com/shop/houseinhabit

i also really like reliable tent: https://www.reliabletent.com/

sadie and mama b: the paint color in jude's room is symphony blue by benjamin moore.

k: the living room bookshelves are from design within reach. we bought the very last floor model in brooklyn -- it was a tight ride home with them jammed in the car! i've checked the site and, unfortunately, it doesn't look like they sell them anymore. if i come across anything similar, i promise to let joanna know.

erin: the bookshelves in the playroom are the expedit shelving unit from ikea. they have lived in almost every room in our house -- they are that useful.

jennafer carlin rosset: those swing chairs seem to go in and out of stock at lawson fenning. it's a heartbreak they're not a perennial piece. i bought ours at the silverlake store and the best i can recommend is that you let them know you're interested and give them a call every so often to check back. i did this for my brother and sister-in-law and, one day, after months of crossed fingers, they came back in. but if it feels truly pressing, you might check out anthropologie. they had a lovely swing chair, too, last i looked.

Fantastically creative and informative blog. I'm new to all this but your have set the bar pretty high for the other blogs I follow.Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.I particularly loved your posts on travel wardrobes and hair. Dry Shampoo is a lifesaver. I'm going interrailing this summer so will let you know how the advice pans out.Best wishes,Isabella

I have been reading your blog for a couple of years now (never commented before!) and I also read other design blogs, and I just needed to leave a comment to say, this is my favorite house EVER. It is perfect, absolutely totally perfect. Everything.

what a gorgeous home and what a beautiful family living in it. i love these home tours.

but still, the tipi as child play-space is definitely problematic. its appearance here is a great opportunity to start a conversation about the assumptions behind this kind of cultural appropriation.

there's an interesting discussion about these issues in this blog post and its comments: http://nativeappropriations.com/2011/04/baby-teepees-are-like-totally-in.html even many of the natives who commented there disagree about whether it's offensive or not. so it's worth a read. maybe you'll still end up deciding having a tipi in your home is OK - but please think about the issues at stake first, don't just do it thoughtlessly.

here's another idea for a whimsical space for imaginative play that doesn't inadvertently both reference and erase our nation's history of violence and genocide: a circular canopy tent, which you can DIY with an embroidery hoop and cheap curtains (or buy a bed/crib canopy from ikea)

I'd love to know what the two framed pieces are (above the gray chair) in Teddy's nursery. They look like letters? I'm really into sentimental art (thanks Nate Berkus) and they look like they have a story!

Her house celebrates all that is right about LA: its warmth, beautiful light, playful colors and direct access to nature. It's lovely. Joanna or Sari, can you please tell me where I can find those fantastic bird cushions? I have been looking for similar ones for ages. Thank you!

I really enjoyed reading The Swarm. It kept me engrossed from start to finish with only one or two slow bits that I still found interesting. The characters are very well written so you can get into their heads. I thought there was plenty of action interspersed throughout the story, but the non-action was just as good. Excellent explanation of the problem at hand and how it was discovered etc.

my goodness, these comments have been so generous! thank you. really, thank you!

gigi1633: yes, the sham and quilt are from john robshaw. they belonged to jude's crib bedding (which i will probably hold onto for the rest of my life). although john robshaw no longer seems to make crib bedding, he still carries textiles in these patterns. as far as i can tell, the lapis quilt is the same blanket as jude's, and his pillow is the maansi walnut from the madura collection.

unknown: by and large, the color of the dakota table in bonnie's (lovely) photos is true to the color of our table. that said, it's probably gotten a bit darker with time: we've had it for almost three years now and it's seen some very serious use!

jessica: oh my, yes, the two framed pieces in teddy's nursery have tremendous sentimental value to me -- and, hopefully, one day, they will mean something to teddy, too. both pieces belonged to my nana, for whom teddy was named. to say i was crazy about her is a huge understatement! the piece on the bottom is a love letter from my grandfather, written late in their marriage; the piece on top is her rorschach report. (it was a required part of a job interview. crazy, right?) it's just a single typewritten paragraph, but the description of her is vivid and uncanny in its accuracy.

diana: the bird pillows are from john robshaw, too. sadly, i no longer see them on the website, but there are some fantastic elephants, and a zebra!

I completely disagree. I had a tipi as a kid and loved it -- we played in it all the time, indoors and out and it was a wonderful cozy space. And btw, I'm part American Indian, although I don't think it matters. If we didn't appropriate other cultures, we wouldn't have much of anything.

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